The Obama administration
did its best Feb. 1 to put the best possible spin on its proposal to cancel the
Constellation program designed to return Americans to the moon by 2020, but
political opposition was still loud and vociferous.
Released Monday to Congress, Obama's 2011 NASA budget calls for increasing the
space agency's budget by $276 million to $19 billion. However, the budget
specifically ends funding for manned spaceflight to the moon. NASA has already
spent $9 billion to develop a new crew capsule and the Ares I rocket to return
to the moon.
By dropping NASA's manned mission to the moon, the Obama administration plans
to invest $6 billion over five years to spur commercial low-orbit flights to
the ISS (International Space Station) and develop other new space technologies.
"The [Constellation] program was planning to use an approach similar to
Apollo to return astronauts to the moon some 50 years after that program’s
triumphs. The Augustine Committee observed that this path was not sustainable,
and the President agrees," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said Feb. 1.
"They found that Constellation key milestones were slipping, and that the
program would not get us back to the moon in any reasonable time or within any
affordable cost. So as much as we would not like it to be the case, and taking
nothing away from the hard work and dedication of our team, the truth is that
we were not on a path to get back to the moon's surface."
Bolden added, "And as we focused so much of our effort and funding on just
getting to the moon, we were neglecting investments in the key technologies
that would be required to go beyond."
Bolden said an enhanced U.S. commercial space industry will create new
high-tech jobs and spin off other new businesses that will seek to take
advantage of affordable access to space.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., where part of the Constellation is being
developed, was sharply critical of the decision to cut the Constellation
program.
"The president's proposed NASA budget begins the death march for the
future of U.S. human space flight. The
cancellation of the Constellation program and the end of human space flight
does represent change—but it is certainly not the change I believe in," Shelby said in a statement.
"Congress cannot and will not sit back and watch the reckless abandonment
of sound principles, a proven track record, a steady path to success and the
destruction of our human space flight program."
Shelby stressed that the president's
budget request was only that, a proposal that must be approved by Congress.
“We cannot continue to coddle the dreams of rocket hobbyists and so-called
‘commercial’ providers who claim the future of U.S. human space flight can be
achieved faster and cheaper than Constellation," Shelby said. "Those who believe
that it is in our nation’s best interest to rely on ‘commercial’ space
companies need only examine their current track record. Of the companies
enlisted to deliver only cargo to space, not humans, one company failed to move
beyond paper drawings, another is years behind schedule, and a replacement
company for the first failure will not even be ready for test flights for years
to come."
The long-awaited decision by the White House on the future of U.S. manned
spaceflight comes after Obama announced May 5, 2009, an outside review of
NASA's program to return to the moon, which former President Bush ordered in
the aftermath of the 2003 space shuttle Columbia accident.
The blue ribbon panel of experts, led by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine, conducted its
review over the summer and concluded the U.S. manned space program is
chronically underfunded with unrealistic goals. NASA has already spent almost
$7 billion on the plan to return to the moon and continues to spend
approximately $300 million on the program.
"The U.S. human spaceflight program appears
to be on an unsustainable trajectory. It is perpetuating the perilous practice
of pursuing goals that do match allocated resources," the panel said.
"Space operations are among the most complex and unforgiving pursuits ever
undertaken by humans. Space operations become all the more difficult when means
do not match aspirations. Such is the case today."
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a former astronaut, said he was disappointed over
what he was hearing.
"Based on initial
reports about the administration’s plan for NASA, they are replacing lost
shuttle jobs in Florida too slowly, risking U.S. leadership in space to China and Russia, and relying too heavily on
unproven commercial companies," Nelson said in a statement. "If the
$6 billion in extra funding is for a commercial rocket, then the bigger rocket
for human exploration will be delayed well into the next decade. That is
unacceptable. We need a plan that provides America with uninterrupted access to
space while also funding exploration to expand the boundaries of our knowledge."
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